With six nominations, Noah Baumbach's "The Squid and the Whale," the autobiographical tale of two boys dealing with the divorce of their demanding parents, led the nominees for Film Independent's 2006 Independent Spirit Awards, announced Tuesday.

The Samuel Goldwyn Films release will compete for best feature with Focus Features' "Brokeback Mountain," Warner Independent Pictures' "Good Night, and Good Luck" and Sony Pictures Classics' "Capote" and "The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada," which picked up four nominations each.

Selected from more than 200 submissions, winners of the Independent Spirit Awards -- which recognize American independent features made for $20 million or less -- will be presented March 4 in Santa Monica as the indie sector of the film industry parties on the eve of the Academy Awards.

Jeff Daniels, who plays the novelist dad in "Squid," was nominated for best male lead, along with Philip Seymour Hoffman, who portrays the title character in "Capote"; Terrence Howard, who stars as a pimp who aspires to be a rapper in "Hustle & Flow"; Heath Ledger, who takes on the character of a taciturn cowboy who falls in love with another man in "Brokeback"; and David Strathairn, who embodies journalist Edward R. Murrow in "Good Night."

In the best female lead category, "Squid" also earned a nomination for Laura Linney, who plays a mom having an affair. The category also includes Felicity Huffman, who appears as a male-to-female transsexual in "Transamerica"; Dina Korzun, in the role of a Russian woman living in Memphis in "Forty Shades of Blue"; S. Epatha Merkerson, who runs a boarding house in "Lackawanna Blues," a performance for which she has already won an Emmy; and Cyndi Williams, who plays a Texas woman haunted by psychic visions in "Room."

The announcement of the best actress nominations triggered a spontaneous moment because Linney and Mark Ruffalo were announcing the nominations at an early-morning press conference at Le Meridien Hotel in Los Angeles.

When Ruffalo read Linney's name, the room burst into applause. As Linney blushed, Ruffalo said, "OK, now, we have to be impartial." But when he finished reading the nominees in her category, he turned to Linney, said, "Congratulations" and gave her a hug.

Nominees for best supporting female are Amy Adams, "Junebug"; Maggie Gyllenhaal, "Happy Endings"; Allison Janney, "Our Very Own"; Michelle Williams, "Brokeback"; and Robin Wright Penn, "Nine Lives."

Those nominated for best supporting male were Firdous Bamji, "The War Within"; Matt Dillon, "Crash"; Jesse Eisenberg, "Squid"; Barry Pepper, "Burials"; and Jeffrey Wright, "Broken Flowers."

Cited in the best feature category, which is awarded to the films' producers, were Diana Ossana and James Schamus for "Brokeback"; Caroline Baron, William Vince and Michael Ohoven for "Capote"; Grant Heslov for "Good Night"; Wes Anderson, Peter Newman, Charles Corwin and Clara Markowicz for "Squid"; and Michael Fitzgerald and Jones for "Burials."

Of the best feature nominees, three of the films also picked up nominations for best director: "Brokeback's" Ang Lee, "Good Night's" George Clooney and "Squid's" Baumbach. The other two best director nominations went to Gregg Araki for "Mysterious Skin," a tale of how sexual molestation shapes the lives of two boys, and Rodrigo Garcia for "Nine Lives," a portrait of nine women. Missing in action were the directors of two of the best feature nominees -- "Capote's" Bennett Miller and "Burials' " Tommy Lee Jones.

Nominations for best first feature, an award that goes to both director and producers, included: "Crash," directed by Paul Haggis and produced by Cathy Schulman, Don Cheadle, Bob Yari, Mark R. Harris, Bobby Moresco and Haggis; "Lackawanna Blues," directed by George C. Wolfe and produced by Nellie Nugiel; "Me and You and Everyone We Know," directed by Miranda July and produced by Gina Kwon; "Thumbsucker," directed by Mike Mills and produced by Anthony Bregman and Bob Stephenson; and "Transamerica," directed by Duncan Tucker and produced by Rene Bastian, Sebastian Dungan and Linda Moran.

Among distributors, SPC walked off with a commanding 12 nominations for a diverse slate of films that encompasses "The Beautiful Country," "Capote," "Junebug," "Burials" and "Thumbsucker."

"It validates what we do for a living because these are the kind of films we want to be involved with," SPC co-president Tom Bernard said. "We've always been in the business of showing the best films from around the world. We haven't mimicked the mini-studio model. And we're honored to be recognized for that."

Magnolia Pictures was a strong runner-up, with seven noms spread among "Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room," "Keane," "Nine Lives" and "The War Within." Goldwyn, Focus and WIP followed with six noms each.

Miramax Films, whose 2005 releases represented the efforts of the outgoing Bob and Harvey Weinstein, didn't secure any nominations, but the brothers' new Weinstein Co. picked up three noms for "Transamerica."

Nominations in other categories included:

  John Cassavetes Award, for best first feature made for less than $500,000: "Brick," from writer/director Rian Johnson and producers Ram Bergman and Mark G. Mathis; "Conventioneers," from director/writer Mora Stephens, producer/writer Joel Viertel; "Jellysmoke," from director/writer/producer Mark Banning; "The Puffy Chair," from director/writer Jay Duplass and producer/writer Mark Duplass; and "Room," from director/writer Kyle Henry and producers Allen Bain, Darren Goldberg and Jesse Scolaro.

  Best screenplay: Ayad Akhtar, Joseph Castelo and Tom Glynn for "The War Within," Guillermo Arriaga for "Burials," Baumbach for "Squid," Dan Futterman for "Capote" and Garcia for "Nine Lives."

  Best first screenplay: Kenneth Hanes for "Fixing Frank," July for "Me and You," Angus MacLachlan for "Junebug," Sabina Murray for "The Beautiful Country" and Tucker for "Transamerica."

  Best cinematography: Robert Elswit for "Good Night," John Foster for "Keane," Adam Kimmel for "Capote," Chris Menges for "Burials" and Harris Savides for "Last Days."

  Best foreign film: Cristi Puiu's "The Death of Mr. Lazarescu" (Romania); Fernando Eimbcke's "Duck Season" (Mexico); Fatih Akin's "Head-On" (Germany/Turkey); Hany Abu-Assad's "Paradise Now" (Palestine/Netherlands/Germany/France); and Jun Ichikawa's "Tony Takitani" (Japan).

  Best documentary: Alex Gibney's "Enron," Werner Herzog's "Grizzly Man," Scott Dalton and Margarita Martinez's "La Sierra," Mark Becker's "Romantico" and David Zeiger's "Sir! No Sir!"

  The IFC/Acura Someone to Watch Award, recognizing a filmmaker "who has not yet received appropriate recognition": Ian Gamazon and Neill Dela Llana, directors of "Cavite"; Robinson Devor, director of "Police Beat"; and Jay Duplass, director of "The Puffy Chair."

  The Truer Than Fiction Award, presented to an emerging director of nonfiction features: Rachel Boynton for "Our Brand Is Crisis," Garrett Scott and Ian Olds for "Occupation: Dreamland," Becker for "Romantico" and Thomas Allen Harris for "Twelve Disciples of Nelson Mandela."

  The AMC/American Express Producers Award, honoring emerging producers: Baron for "Capote" and "Monsoon Wedding," Ram Bergman for "Brick" and "Conversations with Other Women" and Mike S. Ryan for "Junebug" and "Palindromes."

Dawn Hudson, Film Independent's exec director, said this year's crop of nominations "(spotlights) filmmakers whose screenplays are stronger than ever, who are taking on riskier subjects, who have used technological innovations to great effect and who have gone far beyond the more typical, coming-of-age films that dominated independent filmmaking several years ago."

The Spirit Awards ceremonies, produced by Diana Zahn-Storey, will air live March 4 on the Independent Film Channel, and an edited rebroadcast will air the same evening on AMC.

Borys Kit contributed to this report.